


This Is Where We Start

by Agapostemon



Series: Bite the Sky [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Light Angst, sleep is for the weak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 09:59:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11250810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agapostemon/pseuds/Agapostemon
Summary: Sometimes you just need a few space mice to remind you how much you have in common.





	This Is Where We Start

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place after Crystal Venom (S1:E9).
> 
> I wrote this as a gift for egg-naut on Tumblr for the Voltron Positivity Day exchange! (If you wanna say hi to me on Tumblr, my Voltron blog is Agapostemon.)

“Come on, little ones,” Allura says, ushering her mice over to her pillow, “It’s been a long day. Let’s get some sleep.” She tries to keep the tears out of her voice. She knows she doesn’t have to put a brave face on for the mice, but still… if she starts crying now, she’ll never get to sleep. She takes a deep breath as she buries her face in three small, furry bodies.

Wait a minute. Three?

She pulls her face away and squints, “Where’s Platt gotten off to this time?”

The mice respond with a chorus of chittering, and Plachu scampers to the edge of the bed, looking back at Allura as if waiting for her to follow.

Allura chuckles to herself and sits up, “Alright, alright. Apparently we’re all going for an adventure. Show the way.”

The mice scamper off with the princess in tow. Eventually they slow down and Allura takes stock of her new surroundings. They’re approaching one of the observation towers—the one Pidge likes to work in when she’s tired of being interrupted by the others.

Sure enough, Allura spots Pidge the second she peers around the corner. She’s not working, though. Her laptop and headphones are set aside to make room on her lap for Platt. She’s running her fingers rhythmically down the mouse’s back, talking quietly to him and punctuating her statements with sniffles. Is she… crying? Allura frowns. Should she go comfort her? Ask what’s wrong? Or will she just clam up the second she realizes Allura is there?

The mice chatter their encouragement and tug at the hem of her nightgown, urging her to go check on Pidge. Well fine then, she thinks, if they think it’s a good idea then so does she! With that, she rounds the corner and strolls towards Pidge. When she reaches the young paladin, she crouches down and gives her best attempt at a sympathetic smile, “Hello Pidge, is there anything you’d like to talk with me about?”

“Not this again!” growls Pidge, scooting backwards and giving Allura venomous look.

Allura flinches, insulted. What did she do to deserve such a snappish reaction? She’s only trying to help! Chulatt scampers up to her shoulder and gives her cheek a reassuring pat while the other mice scurry over to join Platt on Pidge’s lap.

To Allura’s surprise, Pidge doesn’t object. Instead, she giggles and pets their heads, whispering sweetly to them under her breath. Allura is almost reminded of, well… herself. The tension seeps out of her body as an idea plants itself in her head.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to bother,” she assures Pidge, “I’m just here to deliver some furry friends. It seems they wanted to join you and Platt in the observation tower, if that’s alright with you.”

Apparently that was the right thing to say, because Pidge smiles up at her, “Of course it’s alright! I love the mice.”

“Excellent,” Allura smiles and scoops Chulatt onto Pidge’s lap to join the others, “Is there anything I can get you while I’m up and about? Tea? A snack?”

“Mmm…” Pidge taps her free hand against her knee while she ponders the offer, “I’m not really hungry, but I’d love another mug of that Altean energy drink Coran brewed up! And I’m sure the mice wouldn’t object to a snack.”

Allura grimaces. Of _course_ Coran introduced the humans to zing’lok. “Alright then,” she says, “But I’m only getting you a small mug of zing’lok. Sleep deprivation can lead to fatal errors in battle!”

“I know my limits!” defends Pidge, punctuating her statement with a yawn that says otherwise.

Allura opens her mouth to argue, but a stern look from Chuchule convinces her otherwise. “Fine,” she says begrudgingly, “But I’m still only getting you a small mug. If you want more, you’ll have to walk down to the kitchen yourself.”

Pidge accepts this with a shrug, so without further ado, Allura makes her way down to the kitchen to gather the requested snacks and drinks. She makes herself some calming tea while she’s at it (because unlike some people, she intends to sleep tonight).

When she returns, Pidge is chattering to the mice as she works on her laptop. “Little friend!” she exclaims as Chulatt patters across her keyboard, “Stop typing for me, you’re ruining my code!” She doesn’t seem too upset, though. She giggles as she lifts the mouse onto her shoulder, then returns to the task at hand.

Allura almost wishes she was a mouse. It seems less lonely than being the surviving princess of an extinct race. There’s no use dwelling on that, though, so she sighs and steps forward. “Hello darlings, I brought you some goo! Please leave some for the others, Platt,” she declares, setting a bowl down on the floor near Pidge. Then she places a mug beside it, “And some zing’lok for our green paladin, who _apparently_ believes sleep is for the weak.”

“Thanks,” Pidge says, grabbing the mug without looking up.

Allura frowns, “I also made myself some tea, but I don’t want to bother you while you work. I’ll just… go upstairs to drink it… alone…” She turns slowly to leave, shooting one last glance at Pidge and the mice as she does so, but Pidge pipes up before she makes it out of the room.

“You know, if you wanted to stay you could just ask.”

“I did!” Allura declares, “You made no indication that you wanted me!”

“You… really didn’t,” Pidge points out, “You asked me if I wanted to talk. I don’t. You never asked if you could stay in the tower with me.”

Which… is an infuriatingly good point. Allura sighs again, “Well then, may I?”

Pidge shrugs, “Fine by me.”

It’s not the most enthusiastic invitation, but Allura will take it. She seats herself across from the young paladin and takes a sip of her tea. Pidge responds, if one could even call it a response, by taking a gulp of zing’lok and typing something into her computer. The tension in the room is practically palpable.

Mercifully, Chuchule scampers over after a few mouthfuls of goo and makes herself comfortable in Allura’s lap. The tiny, warm body in her lap somehow makes matters less awkward, if only slightly.

Just as Allura is considering excusing herself to return to her room, though, Pidge looks up from her computer and announces, “Screw the Galra!”

Allura blinks, too startled by the sudden declaration to really process it, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Pidge says, her expression intense, “Screw the Galra!”

For some reason unbeknownst to her, Allura responds by dissolving into a fit of laughter. Perhaps even more surprising: Pidge joins her. She tries to scold herself—an intergalactic war is no laughing matter, and this is hardly the way a princess should behave—but the giggles just keep spilling out until she, Pidge and the mice are all sprawled haphazardly across the floor like floppy aquatic creatures removed from the water, laptop and beverages abandoned.

“Screw the Galra!” Pidge squeaks out once more, though their voices are too raw to keep laughing.

“I wholeheartedly agree!” Allura rasps back with an impish smile.

Pidge mirrors her smile. They lay across from each other panting for a few dobashes. It’s quiet again but no longer awkward.

“Thank you,” Allura says once she catches her breath, “I needed that, apparently.” She sits up and brushes off her nightgown, attempting to regain at least a fraction of her dignity.

“Good,” Pidge says, rolling over onto her back, “Me too.”

It takes Allura a couple dobashes to find the words she wants to say, but eventually she speaks again with all the confidence she can muster, “We’ll get your family back from them. I’ll make sure of it. And if we don’t? I’ll make them pay.”

Something soft and vulnerable flashes across Pidge’s face for a split second, but she quickly replaces it with a smirk, “We’ll make them pay together. And while we’re at it, we’ll make them pay for what they did to your family, too!”

Allura responds with a sad smile. Awkwardness seeps back into the room, and for a moment she contemplates heading back to bed. But she quickly decides against it. After all, sleep is for the weak.

And she and Pidge? They’re anything but weak.

So instead, she gingerly lays back down and turns her head towards Pidge, “So, tell me about your family. I want to be adequately prepared when I meet them, after all.”


End file.
